When all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the Priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we are now entitled to.
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"I am tired of the traditions of men, and the doctrines of devils."
"I am a friend to all good men."
"God made Aaron to be the mouth piece for the children of Israel, and He will make me be god to you in His stead, and the Elders to be mouth for me; and if you don't like it, you must lump it."
"If I had forty wives in the United States, they did not know it, and could not substantiate it, neither did I ask any lawyer, judge, or magistrate for them. I live above the law, and so do this people…"
"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret.... It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Charac…"
Statement attributed to Joseph Smith, quoted by the First Presidency in 1949, reflecting early church views on race and priesthood.
Date: c. 1840s
ReligiousFound in 1 providers: gemini
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The quote expresses a deferred-equality theology: that Black people, described through the biblical "curse of Cain" framework, are temporarily excluded from LDS priesthood access, but will eventually receive full spiritual blessings after other lineages have first received theirs. It frames racial exclusion as sequential and provisional rather than permanent, promising ultimate inclusion within an eschatological timeline rooted in 19th-century Mormon theological reasoning about lineage and divine order.
Joseph Smith founded the LDS Church in 1830, claiming continuous divine revelation as its cornerstone. Notably, during his lifetime he ordained Black members, including Elijah Abel, to the priesthood—making this quote theologically complex relative to his actual practice. Smith's broader theology emphasized progressive revelation, restoration of all blessings, and eventual universal redemption, themes that directly shape how this conditional, future-oriented priesthood promise was constructed and understood within early Mormon doctrine.
In 1830s–1840s America, the "curse of Ham" and "curse of Cain" were standard Protestant frameworks used to justify racial hierarchy and slavery. The Second Great Awakening reshaped American religious life while abolitionism intensified national tension. New religious movements like Mormonism had to navigate slavery-era politics as they expanded across the South and frontier West. Theological statements about race carried enormous social and political weight in this volatile period of American religious formation.
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